


Don't Mention It

by worlds_of_fun_2016



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Character Study, Developing Friendships, F/F, Female Kageyama Tobio, Female Tsukishima Kei, Gen, Hair Brushing, Mentioned Hinata Shouyou, Mentioned Yamaguchi Tadashi, female everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:56:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28959834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worlds_of_fun_2016/pseuds/worlds_of_fun_2016
Summary: It figures that early in the morning, before any one else would even think of being awake, the only company Kageyama has is Tsukishima.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi, both shippings pairs are if you squint
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	Don't Mention It

Kageyama still doesn't know how the team (i.e. Tanaka, Nishinoya and Hinata) convinced Coach Ukai, Mrs. Takeda and the school to let them use the gym Friday night for a lock in before they left for their game on Saturday. She also doesn't see the point. Sure they leave early, but they always have to leave early, and it's never been an issue before. The only bonus she cans see is that they did get to practice an hour and half longer than normal, but that's it. Even when Tanaka and Nishinoya wanted to stay up late talking and playing other games, Coach Ukai wouldn't let them. They all had to be in their sleeping bags by 10:00. 

So, it's pointless in her eyes, but whatever. She had decided to stay because of the added practice time, so at least she had that. The imposed bed time didn't change the fact that she can't sleep well when she's not at home though. She's not sure why exactly, her quality of sleep just isn't the same. That's why she's in the position she's in now. Wide awake at 5:15, a whole hour and 15 minutes before they're supposed to get up. She can't practice, because the rest of the team is all spread out along the gym floor. She can't wake Hinata up to go practice outside, the doors are locked. She could... be on her phone? She doesn't really do that, her phone doesn't hold her attention for long.

She huffs and flops her back, her head cushioned by her pillow and she stares up at the rafters. She gets extremely bored of that in about 30 seconds and begins miming setting. She doesn't have a ball, but while still on her back she reaches her arms up and pretends that the ball is right there, and she pushes them forward and imagines the weight of the ball in her hands. She does this a few more times, picturing different players passing it to her. It passes the time at least. She's so lost in a pretend play where she's going up for her and Hinata's quick, one that is sure to win this totally real, completely legit and fair and not stacked in Karasuno's favor match when she's a distinctly salty scoff.

"Are you sleep playing, your majesty?"

Kageyama shoots up into a sitting position, face red as she glares at Tsukishima, who is now apparently awake. "No. I was awake." Tsukishima's smile turns even more smug, "That's even worse I think."

"I'm bored." Kageyama defends herself, "I can't practice the real thing and no one else will be up for another hour." She doesn't really wonder why Tsukishima is awake, it figures that the taller girl would be an early riser, just to be weird like that. Tsukishima shrugs, a blasé reaction to Kageyama's dedication. Tsukishima seems to be done with their conversation as she gets up and walks over to the bags that are lined up against the far wall. Kageyama watches her walk away, if only because there is quite literally nothing else to do. She gets bored when Tsukishima begins digging through her bag though. Instead she turns her attention to the rest of the team, to see if there's a chance that anyone else is awake.

There doesn't seem to be. Hinata is passed out a few feet away, Yamaguchi is curled up on the other side of Tsukishima's sleeping bag and she seems to be pretty deeply asleep. The second years are all sprawled out in the middle of the floor, Kageyama thinks she can see Nishinoya move around, but it looks more like she's sleep running that actually waking up. The only third year she can easily see is Asahi, who is sprawled out and snoring peacefully. So, it's just her and stupid Tsukishima awake then. Just her luck.

She follows Tsukishima as she comes back from her bag, only now she's put on a pair of socks and is holding a hairbrush. Kageyama doesn't say anything, what is there to say? And Tsukishima doesn't say anything either, probably doesn't deem Kageyama worthy of her words. She just sits back down on her sleeping bag and deftly undoes her braid, before she begins brushing out her hair. Kageyama can't help but marvel at how easy it is for Tsukishima to pull the brush through her hair, it doesn't catch once and she's rebraiding it in the blink of an eye. Kageyama is probably just as quick to brush her hair, when she bothers to brush it. But her hair is almost never that smooth. Her brush always catches and snags on the multitude of knots that accumulate in her hair overnight. How does Tsukishima get it so smooth? Is it the braid? 

"What?" Tsukishima snaps when she notices Kageyama staring. 

"Nothing." Kageyama asserts. She reaches a hand up and touches her own hair, she can already feel the tangles in them, it's gonna be a bitch to brush out. Tsukishima doesn't say anything but instead turns the brush around in her hand and offers it to Kageyama handle first. Kageyama stares at it for a second. She knows that Tsukishima is offering for her to use her brush. That's what this gesture means. But she wonders why. It seems a little too... nice of a gesture for Tsukishima. But maybe she's just tired of staring at Kageyama's rats nest. 

Figuring that must be the reason Kageyama takes the brush and begins brushing her hair. The same way she does every morning, she grabs the hair on the right side of her head and puts the brush to the top of strands, before pulling down and muscling through all the damn knots. She keeps going, yanking the brush down until she practically hears Tsukishima roll her eyes. 

"Were you raised by wolves?" Tsukishima asks condescendingly but also maybe a little... aghast? Kageyama would hesitate to say worried since that seemed far from Tsukishima's wheelhouse.  
"No. It gets the knots out." Kageyama defends. She can see Tsukishima roll her eyes this time, "Maybe by pulling it out of your scalp until you're bald. That's gonna damage it, idiot." 

"Well how are you supposed to do it?" 

"What, do you want me to teach you, your majesty?" 

Despite the name and the clear mockery in the statement, or maybe even because of it, Kageyama pauses and finds that maybe she does. She could learn something, even if it's from Tsukishima, and there's an added bonus of maybe having manageable hair. Whatever. She frowns at the "nickname" but nods and lowers the brush. "Sure. How do I do it?" 

To her credit, Tsukishima hides her surprise pretty well, but Kageyama can see her eyes widen slightly. 

"Fine, since you're so hopeless." She mutters and takes the brush back.

She looks torn, clearly not wanting to sacrifice her braid, but also certainly not wanting to demonstrate on Kageyama. Finally with a huff Tsukishima seems to make her decision.  
"Come here." She says, commands almost, while gesturing for Kageyama to scoot over. Kageyama thinks she'd rather Tsukishima just explain it rather than mess with her hair, but whatever, she's always been a visual learner. 

She separates a section of Kagayama's hair and holds it taught, but not tight. "First, you have to start with smaller pieces," 

"That's gonna take forever!" Kageyama objects. 

"Then cut it all off, princess." Tsukishima snaps back. 

Kageyama doesn't have a response for that, she just takes a lock of hair from the side Tsukishima's not on and studies it. She doesn't really want to cut it, she doesn't think. Hair has never been important to her, never mattered or meant anything. The only reason she grew it out was cause she didn't care enough to cut it. Maybe it'd be easier to manage if it were shorter, but... 

"Fine. Smaller sections. Then what?" 

"Start at the bottom and work your way up, until you can get through the whole piece without it catching." She explains, while only brushing the ends of the strands. 

"That's also gonna take forever." Kageyama grumbles, this is why she never cared about her hair. It takes too long, she could be doing more important things with her time instead of brushing her damn hair. 

"It will at first, but the more you maintain it the easier it is." Tsukishima advises, almost kindly. Almost, it's a little too snippy to be truly kind, but Kageyama can't expect too much from Tsukishima. 

After a while, Tsukishima finally runs the brush through Kagayama's hair without it catching or snagging. "There, see? And if you do it again after practice, it won't take very long at all when you do it again before bed." She explains. That was too many times for Kagayama's preference, she could be doing cool downs or watching volleyball videos in the time it would take to brush it three times a day, but whatever. She doesn't have to tell Tsukishima that. 

"You wanna do the next piece, or do I have to do it for you, princess?" Kageyama glowers at the name, and snatches the brush from Tsukishima's stupid hands. She might've taken advantage of Tsukishima's uncharacteristic niceness, but not if she was gonna still be bitchy about it. "I can do it now." She grabs her hair and brings up the brush, almost ready to continue on the way she had before. But the whole reason she did this was to learn, to prove that she could manage this. So she let's some of the hair go until she has a more manageable piece and lowers the brush the end of the strands. 

And if she glances at Tsukishima for approval and gets approval in the form of a small smirk and nod, then that's no one business but her's and stupid Tsukishima's. 

She brushes her hair in silence, until she manages half her hair and then Tsukishima speaks up. "You don't have to brush so harshly, even if you're doing smaller pieces, you can still rip out your hair." Kageyama pauses before slowing down and trying to brush more gently, the way she thinks Tsukishima did before. "Did you teach Yamaguchi to do this too?" 

Tsukishima scoffs, "No, Yamaguchi can do it herself. She actually has a few functioning braincells, unlike you and the shrimp." Kageyama continues to brush the exact same chunk of hair over again, trying to discern if it's catching too much, "Is that why you're friends with her?" "Among other reasons." Tsukishima turns her head and suddenly begins studying her pillow case very intently. 

While Kageyama moves on, she looks around the room, studying the way every other teammate is spread out along the gym floor. Asahi has an absolute mane, it's splayed around her head like another blanket. She doesn't braid her hair when she plays or sleeps, how does she maintain it? Or Hinata? Hers is short but so very curly, does she need to brush it? Does Sugawara have an intense hair routine? 

Kageyama is so preoccupied wondering about other people's hair brushing techniques that she stops paying attention to her own and tugs a little harshly down the strands she's working on. There's a horrible tearing sound as the brush rips through her hair and she flinches. 

"And you were doing so well too, your majesty," Tsukishima smirks, "did you get impatient?" 

Kageyama glares at her fiercely, "No! I just... forgot! This is my first time doing this." 

"It's not a serve or quick attack, princess, you don't know need to analyze it so much. It's just brushing your hair, it's simple." She stresses, still with that stupid smug look. 

Kageyama's glare deepens but she keeps going. Kageyama puts up with Tsukishima because she's a teammate and she's good at what she does. But Kageyama can't ever seem to figure out Tsukishima. What her angle is, why she stays in volleyball if she seems to hate it so much, why she stays if she finds everyone on the team below her. Kageyama will never admit it out loud but she does like the team, for the most part and they are a team after all. But Tsukishima is one she can't wrap head around. She can't discern if her help today is genuine kindness or stupid pity.   
By the time she's finished brushing through her hair she's decided she'll never understand Tsukishima and Tsukishima probably prefers it that way. 

Tsukishima takes her brush back while Kageyama runs her fingers through her hair, they catch once in a while but it's not so bad, better than it usually is first thing in the morning. 

"Isn't that better?" Tsukishima asks, where normally there might be gentleness or sweetness, there's a lack of emotion behind the words when Tsukishima says them. Like she's filling out a report rather than checking in. Whatever, Kageyama doesn't need Tsukishima to check in on her anyway. But... "It's... it's nice. Thanks, Tsukishima." 

If it were anyone else Kageyama might try for a smile, even though Hinata often reminds her that her smiles look disturbing on the best days. But with Tsukishima she doesn't need to, and she kind of appreciates that. Tsukishima scoffs again and waves her hand "Don't mention it. Seriously, don't. I have a reputation to uphold and if people start thinking I'm soft I'll drop the team and leave all of you defenseless." 

Kageyama doubts that honestly, but nods her head solemnly. "Wouldn't dream of it." She promises.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've ever published and first thing I've written since I was like. 12. But constructive criticism is welcome!  
> I also don't write Kageyama a lot so I apologize if this seems ooc.  
> This was just a plot bunny I thought of and decided to write down fully on a whim.  
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll see you soon!


End file.
